H-T EXCLUSIVE: Sarasota bids for Pentathlon event

A team of local officials have submitted a bid to host the Olympic Pentathlon World Cup events in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

JUSTINE GRIFFIN

Sarasota-Bradenton has its eyes set on a new Olympic-level sport that would bring elite athletes and top-ranking dignitaries from countries all over the world to Southwest Florida.

A team of local officials have submitted a bid to host the Olympic Pentathlon World Cup events in 2014, 2015 and 2016, which could include hosting an Olympic qualifying event for athletes trying to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

If awarded to Southwest Florida, it would be the first time the United States has ever hosted an Olympic qualifying event for the pentathlon sport, said Rob Stull, chief executive of USA Pentathlon, and a three-time Olympian participant.

"The sport has a lot of ties to important people all over the world. There are a number of nations involved, and to host an Olympic qualifying event on U.S. soil would bring those ties here," Stull said. "The holy grail is to host the Olympic Games in your own country. Sarasota is embracing the whole Olympic program by bringing a variety of top tier sports here."

Modern pentathlon athletes compete in five sporting categories: fencing, swimming, equestrian show jumping, running and shooting. The event is held over four to five hours on one day. Both women and men compete in their own classes.

"This will help open the doors to other Olympic sports that we could host in Sarasota," said Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County, the county's tourism agency.

The pentathlon is the oldest sporting event in the Olympic Games, though the types of sports included in the event have changed over the years.

It was created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, and, like rowing, attracts mostly European countries.

'It has tremendous cachet'

If the event comes to this region, the Sarasota YMCA at Potter Park, which was the site of the 2013 Pan American Masters Swimming Championships, will host the swimming and fencing events.

"This is not the kind of event that will put the world on fire in terms of economic impact but since it's the oldest sport in the Olympic movement, it has tremendous cachet," said Rob Butcher, executive director of U.S. Masters Swimming.

The competition would draw a couple hundred competitors and maybe a thousand others, including family members, coaches and other staff. But some of the competitors will be unlike any the region has seen before.

Prince Albert II of Monaco is a longtime competitor and past president of the worldwide governing body of the sport.

Local officials expect other dignitaries and top-level competitors from around world to see Southwest Florida for the first time, if the region is awarded the pentathlon games.

"There is a level of prestige that comes with this competition that you don't see at other Olympic events," Butcher said.

He has been a part of the local committee that put the bid package together.

Butcher's organization also brought the Pan American Masters Swimming Championships, one of the first international sporting events in the region. That summer event drew more than 1,700 athletes from 25 different countries in June.

All events at Benderson Park

For the Pentathlon, the other three events, including horse jumping, will take place at Nathan Benderson Park.

Fox Lea Farm, Sarasota County's premiere equestrian competition center in Venice, will provide the fences and obstacles needed for the show jumping portion of the event.

A laser shooting range also will be set up at Benderson Park.

Visit Sarasota County and the Bradenton Area Convention Center & Visitor's Bureau have committed $50,000 each for hosting the pentathlon events.

The Suncoast Nature Aquatic Center Association, which manages Benderson Park, pledged another $50,000 while the Gulf Coast Community Foundation also allocated $50,000 for the first 2014 event.

The International Modern Pentathlon Union, based in Monaco, will vote on site of upcoming world cup events on Nov. 24.

USA Pentathlon officials toured Benderson and Potter parks more than a month ago before committing to Sarasota County as the sole bid from the U.S.

The region also is vying to host the final world cup event in 2014, which means the pentathlon would take place in June 2014. The 2015 and 2016 events — including an Olympic qualifier — would take place in March.

Stiff competition

Similar to rowing, world cup events are held in a series with several events in one year.

There are world cup pentathlon events and an annual world championship.

While several U.S. cities have hosted the Modern Pentathlon World Championships through the years, no city in this country has hosted the Olympic qualifier.

This region is up against cities like Rome; Budapest, Hungary; Acapulco, Mexico, and several others, to host the world cup events.

Pentathlon events have been hosted in Charlotte, N.C., and Palm Springs, Calif.

San Antonio, Texas, has hosted the world championships three times.

Stull visited Sarasota County for the first time this week, and attended a social and fundraising event at former U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' home.

"I've never seen anything like the community and enthusiasm the Sarasota community has for its sports," Stull said.

Sarasota County's recent claim to sporting fame probably helped, too: Benderson Park's growing reputation after being named the site of the 2017 World Rowing Championships and the Sarasota YMCA's Selby Aquatic Center being selected to host the 2014 and 2015 YMCA National Masters Swimming Championships.

"We're all friends in Olympic sports. I got a few calls out of the blue from executives in other sports that wanted to put their weight behind Sarasota," Stull said.

Aside from sporting event, the modern pentathlon competition also includes an arts and culture element. Harris is working with the Ringling College of Art and Design to set up an arts festival, which would be held during the pentathlon events.